HELRUNAR – Frostnacht

Finally! After a silence of almost two years Germans black metal hopefuls HELRUNAR are back with their highly anticipated sophomore Frostnacht. With their critically acclaimed self-financed debut Grátr the trio could land a deal with a sublabel of legendary Prophecy Productions that re-released the debut a little later. With all the internationally positive resonance the bar was raised high for the second record.
But don’t worry, Frostnacht even tops Grátr. Sound is this time much better, more transparent and more powerful without taking coldness and atmosphere away.
In structural matters, nothing has changed that much. Frostnacht kicks off with what Grátr closed… with icy wind and a spoken word intro, leading abruptly over to the title track. Riffing is once more striking and distinctive, the refrain hymn-like to raise a Viking horn and sing along. This time single tracks are more diversified, more harmonic and sophisticated. Dynamics are changing often, many breaks and acoustic passages upvalue every track. Nachtfrost and Neun Nächte are completely acoustic versions, while Der Trank des Gehängten offers these grandiose guitarleads again and (the very rare) clean singing by Skald Draugir. Furthermore one will find again spoken and sung parts in the original language of the Scaldic Verses.
What you cannot find on the band’s sophomore are the choirs and the jew’s-harps as on the predecessor.
All in all one will get again a pure masterpiece of black-metallic musicianship, skills and cleverly lyrical content. A must-have! And … on the quiet, HELRUNAR have probably entered the German throne of black metal since I don’t know any other bands I’d equate with them.